Job Killer

Obamacare’s shadow a blow to job numbers

February 9, 2014

Congressional Budget Office projections show Obamacare is about to negatively affect the workforce in a way that may not show up in the more obvious labor-force indicators. Within the next decade, the labor force could be reduced by 2.5 million people, solely as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

According to the non-partisan CBO, more people will likely decide to either reduce their hours or leave the workforce entirely, in order to stay under the income caps for Medicaid and other federal subsidies. "The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses' demand for labor," the CBO report said.

In other words, monthly unemployment numbers will not show this change to the labor force. This hit to the economy will fly under the radar.

Between 2018 and 2024, according to the CBO, Obamacare will directly contribute to the economy falling "short of its potential."

Of course, the CBO report also documents that the largest declines in work as a result of Obamacare will be among lower-wage workers - precisely the folks the Obama administration pretended their plan would help. The CBO explains, again, the penalty for employers who do not provide insurance will, indeed, lead to lowered employment. Businesses may be forced to reduce their workforce to below 50, or move to hiring more part-timers in order to avoid the hefty fines spelled out in the law.

At the outset, Obamacare enrolled 1 million fewer participants than it expected, because no one bothered to make sure the website actually worked before millions of Americans were forced to use it. Now report after report shows the hype was built on lies, and the regime could damage the physical and financial wellbeing of millions of hard-working people who are just trying to get by.

It is likely too much to hope that President Barack Obama and the legion of politicians who have decided to work for him, instead of their constituents, would take a look at the growing volume of reports that show Obamacare is a deeply flawed effort, and rethink their positions. But reports like the one from the CBO, which also showed Social Security finances deteriorating much faster than expected and projected an increase in the nation's debt to 79 percent of GDP by 2024, must surely wake up voters to the reality these numbers foretell.